1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic observation apparatus, an operation method of the ultrasonic observation apparatus, and a computer readable recording medium for enabling observation of tissues of a specimen using ultrasonic sound waves.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, in order to perform screening for breast cancer using ultrasonic sound waves, a technology called ultrasonic elastography is known (for example, see International Laid-open Pamphlet No. 2005/122906). The ultrasonic elastography is a technology which makes use of the fact that cancer tissues or tumor tissues inside a body have different hardness depending on the disease progression or depending on the body nature. In this technology, while continually applying external compression to the screening location, the strain amount or the degree of elasticity of the body tissues at the screening location is measured using ultrasonic sound waves, and the measurement result is displayed in the form of cross-sectional images.